Overgeared

"Wow…"

"Beautiful…"

At the center of the World Tree Forest…

The transparent orange waves decorated it in a dizzying manner. It was a sight where dozens of constellations seemed to be gathered together. It felt like the universe had fallen to the ground, but it was actually the trajectory of Overgeared God Grid.The afterimages of his battle route made his feats a reality for the eyewitnesses.

"Sniff sniff." Filewolf tracked Grid in a specific way. He tried to smell with a nose that didn't exist. It was because he thought about the scent of metal that he was immersed in during his lifetime. Every time Grid swung a sword, Filewolf felt steel from the spreading waves.

It was a natural process. The Elemental King of Light scattered light every time it was cut by Grid. It reflected and dispersed light like sunlight hitting steel. Filewolf noticed it with one glance. Grid's nature, or in other words, his divinity, had changed.

'No, a god's nature can't change easily.'

A change in divinity meant betrayal and depravity. Take Rebecca for example. People believed in her and worshiped her because she was the goddess of light. If the divinity she had wasn't light, but instead something else, it would be an act of deceit and betrayal for those who believed in her and served her.

'It is right to interpret it as him realizing his nature now.'

The reason why the ancient giants were synonymous with wisdom was simple—they knew a lot. Filewolf might have a perverted temperament, but he had a good idea of theology. He properly analyzed Grid's current situation. He glimpsed the newborn god becoming aware of his divinity.

"Gasp… Gasp…" Filewolf's breathing gradually became rough. It was because he was charmed by the Elemental King of Nothingness.

Nothing Stone was approaching.

Nothingness—the name was reminiscent of a void, but the reality was completely different. Nothing Stone left a mark every time it moved. Metal dripped and fell down. Filewolf saw that it was close to Grid's Greed. A pure metal that could become anything. Metal that was nothing because it could be anything.

'Therefore, it is nothing.'

Was this elemental king born under the influence of Grid? It was a free interpretation of the concept of nothingness, but in fact, it was right to call it the Elemental King of Metal, not Nothingness.

'Well, it doesn't matter.'

Perception was a different law for different individuals. Every being in the world felt different when they saw the same thing. There was no problem with Nothing Stone's identification of itself as nothingness rather than metal, even if it had the properties of metal. It fell into the category of individuality. If it had been a problem, Nothing Stone wouldn't have even been born.

[Yura, I want to contract with you.]

"……?"

Yura was startled as she was quietly watching the situation. Nothing Stone was born by counterattacking and absorbing the Elemental King of Light that had absorbed it. It was originally Grid's elemental. Naturally, it was right for it to contract with Grid. Yet it wanted to contract with her?

[The biggest reason why I could swallow the Elemental King of Light was due to your will.]

"Mine…?"

[Yes.]

From the time she saw the Elemental King of Light devouring Light Stone, Yura was hostile to and denied the Elemental King of Light. She perceived it as Grid's enemy. Her attitude was a great help to Nothing Stone. She was the contractor of the Elemental King of Light. She might be weaker than the Elemental King of Light and couldn't exert direct influence, but as its contractee, Yura's willpower to antagonize and deny the Elemental King of Light contributed to weakening it. The Elemental King of Light was caught in the restrictions of the contact and due to this, it couldn't extinguish Light Stone.

For Nothing Stone, Yura was as much a savior as Grid. Additionally, Nothing Stone had absorbed the Elemental King of Light in reverse. Dim traces of the contract that the Elemental King of Light had signed with Yura remained. It was impossible to contract with someone other than Yura. Of course, it was a problem that could be resolved if it broke the contract with Yura's mutual agreement, but Nothing Stone didn't want this. It liked Yura.

"I understand your heart. Thank you. However, you have to be by Grid's side, not mine."

Yura shook her head after hearing the long explanation. She believed that Nothing Stone was a match with Grid, not herself. Nothing Stone made a tearful expression.

[Do you hate me?]

It had an expression unlike the Elemental King of Light, who was merely a lump of light. A cloud-like appearance made of mercury. Two eyes and a mouth were painted on the 'face' that existed in the center of it. Throughout the conversation with Yura, they were curved in a half moon shape as it smiled. It was nice to see. At this moment, it looked like it was going to cry.

Nothing Stone explained to the flustered Yura. [I'm not any help to Grid. Grid already has Greed.]

"Ah…" Yura was immediately convinced. She had felt that Nothing Stone resembled Greed. Metal that thought and moved by itself.

[I look like Greed, but I'm different. I am weaker and I can't be smelted.]

Elementals were close to living things. It was impossible to make items using Nothing Stone as material. However, it wasn't stronger than Greed. Therefore, Nothing Stone decided it wasn't efficient for it to be with Grid.

Grid realized it. 'Nothing Stone should be considered a self-reformable metal.'

The utilization would be infinite. Meanwhile, Grid already had a skill that transformed matter. He also had Greed. Even if he made the most of Nothing Stone, the performance would be less than the items Grid created and used.

'It is much more efficient for Yura to have Nothing Stone.'

Grid had harmed Yura's elemental. He unavoidably felt greedy. Then what if Nothing Stone replaced the Elemental King of Light? He could relieve the burden on his heart. Furthermore, Yura would become much stronger in the future. It was incomparable to the time when she stayed with the Elemental King of Light, who refused to even communicate.

"Yura, please contract with Nothing Stone."

"…Is this really okay?"

"Of course."

The brightly smiling Grid pushed Yura's back. His gentle touch completely erased Yura's hesitation.

[Can you contract with me?]

"Yes… okay."

[I'm really happy!]

Nothing Stone smiled brightly.

Grid felt many emotions. A child who tried to communicate with him in the past—he was sorry that he didn't know until the end that it was such a bright child.

'Nothing Stone, let's be happy from now on.'

***

[In this way?]

"Yes, it is perfect!"

[Hehehet.]

Yura contracted with Nothing Stone. Nothing Stone contracted with Yura. In 10 minutes, they became friends. It was too good in the first place. Nothing Stone was able to transform into any item Yura desired. Powerful bullets were generated immediately. Due to the attribute of nothingness, there was no rejection of the Demon Slayer's unique magic power.

As Nothing Stone wrapped itself around Yura's body, Yura's power increased noticeably. It was appropriate to express it as 'Yura is armed with the Elemental King of Nothingness.'

'I'm happy because she looks good.'

Yura's expression was very bright. Her porcelain-like clean skin had a brighter look, giving her a much brighter appearance. It was a pretty appearance that she only showed to Grid alone when they were dating. Grid completely relieved the burden on his mind and confirmed the updated information of his sword dances.

[Overgeared God's Sword Dance Lv. 1]

[The sword dances of Overgeared God Grid.

The Overgeared God's divinity increases physical attack power by 90%, magic attack power by 30%, critical hit probability by 70%, and critical hit attack power by 150%. All values will triple when using cooperative skills with a person you have a bond with.

* This effect is only fully applied when a sword type weapon is equipped.

* The increased physical attack power isn't applied when a staff or orb is equipped.

* Damage proportional to the willpower stat will be dealt if a weapon isn't equipped.

* The sword dances can be used without the footwork. However, the power of the sword dance will increase with every step due to the realization gained from the 'Filling the Gaps Secret Technique' (For each additional step, the damage of the sword dance will increase by 50%, 100%, 200%, and 400% respectively).[1]

* The number of fusion sword dances that can be created is 20.

* Every time the skill level rises, the number of fusion sword dances that can be created will increase by 5.

* You can also create six fusion sword dances. However, the number of times a five or six fusion sword dance can be created is affected by the deity and divinity figures.

★All sword dances will have the nothingness attribute. It will always exert full power over all other attributes and can cut at any concept or phenomenon. However, there is no compatibility advantage.

★ Mana is consumed so you can activate/deactivate it.

Currently activated.]

The biggest change was the sharp increase in physical attack power and critical hit attack power. There was also a change in attributes.

The nothingness attribute—it differed from the other attributes that had compatibility with each other. He was always 100% powerful against any attribute. Instead, he didn't have the upper hand against any attribute. Even so, the strength was much greater. He exerted full power against all attributes and could cut concepts and phenomena…

This resembled the premise of 'any type of swordsmanship' which was highly regarded in Satisfy's worldview.

In fact, Grid had a title that he never expected.

[Conditional Sword Saint]

[Passive

There is nothing you can't cut while using Overgeared God's Sword Dance.]

'I can see why Braham's finishing move is Meteor.'

Nothingness couldn't always be the right answer. For example, the light and dark attributes had an advantage over all other attributes. Still, they were far from perfect. It was because light received serious damage from darkness and darkness from light.

On the other hand, the nothingness attribute had no obvious weaknesses. It was the best attribute for Grid, who could increase 'basic damage' to the extreme.

'Thus, it was adopted as the Overgeared God's divinity.'

A deep smile spread on Grid's face as he realized this.

Drop Dragon Pinnacle Link Kill Wave—he reconfirmed Chiyou's blessing that was in the six fusion sword dance.

[★When using Drop Dragon Pinnacle Link Kill Wave, Ultimate Martial Art will occur unconditionally.]

'Were you always watching?'

Grid looked up at the blue sky and bowed deeply to the waist.

A subject worthy of respect and admiration. The only one god he had seen, Grid sincerely worshiped Chiyou.

***

Another four days passed…

Unlike the first five days, the group was very busy. First of all, Grid trained to increase the hit rate of his new sword dances that 'lost their magic.'

'The reason I didn't have a clear edge over the Elemental King of Light is the absence of Detect Force.'

The magic to track targets—Braham's secondary magic that was attached to the sword dances disappeared, making it more difficult to keep up with the speed of the Elemental King of Light.

'Should I invest my stats as much as possible in agility for a while?'

As Grid was feeling troubled, Yura worked to cooperate with Nothing Stone and Filewolf focused on repairing God's Circle.

God's Circle—it was why the group visited the World Tree Forest. Now Filewolf felt the greatest responsibility. How did the Elemental King of Light die and a new elemental king was born? He didn't understand it even after witnessing the entire process firsthand, but in any case, Filewolf dispelled his thoughts. He was fully focused on the task.

"……"

Grid and Braham carefully observed the work of FIlewolf. It was the moment when an ancient giant manufactured an artifact. It was an invaluable experience to witness a sight that hadn't been seen for more than a thousand years. It was learning that would never occur again in the world.

The one who was enlightened was Braham, not Grid. There were too many concepts that Grid didn't understand, but Braham properly demonstrated the power of the Duke of Wisdom. He solved and understood concepts he didn't know in real time and acquired new artifact production methods.

'I crossed it.' Braham had a gut feeling. He had no choice but to acknowledge Pauld's talent in making artifacts. Yet at this moment, Braham surpassed him.

1. Filling the Gaps Secret Technique was previously just known as the Martial God's Secret Technique. It was the technique that filled in the gaps in Grid's abilities and did stuff like evolve his sword dances etc. ☜